Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Oteki Sinema interview (2014)

[Interview with
Can Yalçınkaya on the Turkish website Oteki Sinema, published
26/09/14. The original Turkish introduction and text is here]

Can: How
did you first become aware of Weng Weng's work and decide to make a
documentary about him?

Andrew: It
was back in the dark days before the Internet when I first stumbled
upon a ninth-generation bootleg of For Y’ur Height Only and I think
my mind exploded the moment I saw a karate-kicking midget Bond in a
pageboy haircut and white flared suit taking on an army of goons
dressed in Hawaiian shirts and Seventies porn mustaches. It was
transcendent, beyond absurd! At the same time there was something
intangible about its star which I instantly connected with, and
decided it may be my life's mission to find out everything there is
to know about him. That was the early 90s and here we are more than
twenty years later, and I'm STILL learning about the enigmatic Weng
Weng!

Can: How
did Weng Weng, a 2.9-foot Filipino man, become an internationally
recognised action star?

Andrew: We
can thank Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines, for
becoming a global phenomenon, if small-scale and short-lived
(literally!). Her 1982 Manila International Film Festival was
designed to sell Filipino films to the world - ironically, it was the
Philippines' most idiot of films, For Y’ur Height Only, that
actually sold. I mean, the film went everywhere - I even have a
reproduction of a Turkish poster as well as advertising materials
from Pakistan, Finland, the Middle East, etc etc... It may be the
main reason why I tracked down Imelda to film her for the
documentary. Other than being the most notorious character in
Philippines' history, her DNA is forever linked with Weng Weng's -
their fates are now forever intertwined, thanks to our movie!

Can: Do
you think the political and cultural climate of the late 1970s and
early 1980s in the Philippines was influential in his success?

Andrew: Most
definitely. Much of the Philippines' movie output from the 60s to 90s
were action-based, stunt-centric action or action-comedies. They call
them "Goon" films, after the armies of apes in suits who
are employed by the Contrabida ("Super-Villain") to beat up
the hero. There are literally THOUSANDS of these Goon flicks in the
Philippines, many of them lost forever, mostly following the same
simple-minded, gloriously dumb formula. Weng Weng is the hero of
these thousands of films, but miniaturized, and at the same time is
able to perform all his own stunts and, thanks to the Marcos family
making him a real-life secret agent, use his own custom-made .25
calibre pistol as a movie prop! Where else in the world other than
the Philippines would these elements conspire together to create a
character such as Weng Weng? ONLY in the Philippines! Also, when you
really look at the period of Weng Weng, the Philippines was starting
to emerge from a ten year period of Martial Law. They desperately
needed to laugh, and Weng Weng was an accessable target of mirth.
Freakishly tall or short, fat, anorexic, ugly, buck-toothed, all make
ideal Filipino comic superstars.

Can: Do
we know anything about Weng Weng's actual spy work?

Andrew: Only
second-hand stories from Weng Weng's brother, and his directors Eddie
Nicart and Dante "Boy" Pangilinan. But they all agree that
his spy work was not just a novelty act or promotional gag...he was
indeed trained by General Olivas, head of Manila's dreaded Metrocom,
and relative of both Weng's producer Cora Caballes and President
Marcos himself. Firearms, parachute training, the whole bit. As far
as actual missions...well, that's still classified!

Can: What
brought his downfall?

Andrew: Diminishing
returns from his films - unfortunately for him he was indeed a
novelty act rather than a long-term prospect - and his producer Cora
Caballes entering politics. Weng Weng was sent back to his
neighbourhood and languished in poverty and obscurity before becoming
ill and passing away at an early age. I don't want to give away too
many details from the documentary, but his final days are quite
heartbreaking, particularly in light of his incredible achievements
during his glory days of stardom, and the last known photo of Weng
Weng when he's fat, balding and obviously in poor health, will haunt
you.

Can: From
the documentary (and the Q&A that took place after the SUFF
screening) it sounded like you've become personally attached to Weng
Weng and his surviving family's story. How did this affect the course
of the film over the years?

Andrew: Of
course you try to maintain a sense of objectivity, but it's difficult
not to be personally affected by Weng Weng's plight. When you go deep
into the story, become almost adopted by his family, and end up
godfather to his great-great nephew, things can never return to
normality! Ultimately it took all seven years to nail the details in
the film which makes it such an affecting experience, those details
which make Weng Weng come to life in the hearts and minds of the
viewer. I always maintain that if the film didn't take seven years to
complete, to become Machete Maidens Unleashed! and then morph back
into The Search..., then the film would be a much more superficial
exercise.

Can: You
definitely created a picture of Weng Weng as a human being, rather
than a mere novelty act in a few films. What has been your favourite
moment during the time you spent filming?

Andrew: Favourite
moment, singular? Impossible to choose! Top
three? The eight years of visiting the Philippines is an
ever-changing process of immersion.

Can: OK,
top three...

Andrew: First
visit to Weng Weng's grave. Second: being locked in a compound full
of religious lunatics preaching the Second Coming of dead action star
Fernando Poe Jr...the
cameras weren't rolling that night! Third: screening the film outside
the house Weng Weng was born in, to his family and relatives, then
getting drunk with them afterwards and hearing stories from Unida
Street. Every other moment spent in the Philippines come a close
fourth.

Can: Emotional
aspects of it aside I know this film was part of your PhD thesis. Did
you start a PhD after you started filming, or did this project come
about during your candidature? What are the reactions to your topic
in the academia? Are you thinking of publishing the exegesis?

Andrew: The
PhD's still going through the system, so I can't really comment on it
right at this moment, sorry. [NOTE: My PhD submission was rejected around the same time as the interview and is yet to be resubmitted]

Can: Can
you tell us a bit about your next project?

Andrew: It's
in the pitch stage right now, so I can't give away too much. I can
tell you it will be another documentary on fringe cinema, but with a
much wider scope, and will go deeper into the dark hearts of the
cultures it will explore. I CAN tell you that Turkey will be on its
radar! [NOTE: Dani and I were pitching the aborted TV series Film Safari at the time]

Can: Looking
forward to that! Lastly, where can people in Turkey watch The Search
for Weng Weng? Will you be taking the film to any of the festivals
there?

Andrew: The
film will be on DVD before the end of the year, and if I receive an
invitation to screen in Turkey before or after its release I'd be
more than happy to accept. I can't wait to visit the land of Kilink.

No comments:

HERR LEAVOLD

Andrew Leavold owned and managed Trash Video, the largest cult video rental store in Australia, from 1995 to 2010. He is also a film-maker, published author, researcher, film festival curator, musician, and above all, unrepentant and voracious fan of the pulpier aspects of genre cinema. His writing has been published globally in mainstream magazines, academic journals and underground cinema fanzines, for the last two decades.

Leavold toured the world with his feature length documentary The Search For Weng Weng (2013). His ten years of research on genre filmmaking in the Philippines formed the basis of Mark Hartley's documentary Machete Maidens Unleashed! (released internationally in 2010), on which Leavold is also Associate Producer, and he has since been recognized both in the Philippines and abroad as the foremost authority in his area of expertise, teaching Philippine film history at university level in Australia, the United States, and throughout the Philippines. Leavold teamed with Daniel Palisa to co-direct The Last Pinoy Action King (2015), both a feature-length documentary on the late Filipino action idol Rudy Fernandez, and a dissection of film royalty, politics, privilege, idolatry, and the Philippines’ pyramid of power.

He is currently shooting two new feature-length documentaries – The Most Beautiful Creatures On The Skin Of The Earth (also with Palisa), the third in his Filipino trilogy, about erotic cinema under Marcos; and Pub, a history of the vibrant St Kilda music scene as told through its most outrageous progeny, Fred Negro. Both films are due for release in 2018.